See here for the annotated video documenting
the true circumstances ofVirginia Levy's unsuccessful "$1,000 Challenge" effort and the extent to which
she maliciously lied to the reporter for this 8/8/2008 St. Petersburg
Times article.See here for our corrective Letter to the Editor
(published 8/15/2008).

"Psychic/Prophet" fails the
TBS "$1,000 Challenge"

by Gary P. Posner

On September 19, 1998, at the appointed hour and not a moment sooner (thus leading to some momentary
trepidation), Titusville's self-styled "psychic/prophet" Virginia Levy
arrived at the downtown Tampa
Main Public Library to demonstrate one of her paranormal abilities for the TBS "$1,000 Challenge."
Witnesses present in the auditorium included members of TBS, a reporter for the Tampa Tribune (see
his article),
several students from the University of South Florida, and Levy's young daughter. And just as we at
TBS had predicted, Levy failed to demonstrate any evidence of her alleged powers.

The controlled test of "psychometry" (reading the vibrations of objects) involved locating the box
into which, moments earlier, she had placed her own object (a tiny "crystal stone"). Ten small
cardboard jewelry boxes were placed before her, one of which contained the stone, the rest empty.
The boxes had been mixed such that no one in the room could possibly know which contained the stone,
unless the person possessed "psychic" power.

To facilitate her reading of the vibrations of their contents, Levy was permitted to place her hands
near, and even touch (without rattling) the boxes. Once she made her selection, that box was so
marked, all ten boxes were placed securely aside (still closed), and a second run was performed with
another stone and set of boxes. The results would not be revealed until the completion of the final
run.

In all, seven such runs were conducted, with the probability of success in any given run being 1:10
without benefit of "psychic" power. The probability of being correct all seven times by chance were
1:10,000,000 (1:10 to the 7th power) and, as per the "Challenge" protocol
signed by Levy and TBS
just prior to the first run, Levy was required to succeed all seven times in order to win.

During most of the runs, Levy did not get within a foot or more of the boxes as she psychically
scanned them. She chatted and joked throughout much of the test, and at one point professed that,
regardless of the results, she would leave the auditorium just as confident of her "psychic" powers
as before.

After the final run was concluded, Tribune reporter Sean Ledig, who had earlier been mutually agreed
upon to hold TBS's $1,000 check (which he would have handed over to Levy had she succeeded), was
tapped to also open the boxes. In the first run, Levy had selected box #6. As Ledig opened the boxes
one by one, the stone was ultimately found to be in box #10. Although Levy had already lost the
Challenge at that point, the results of the rest of the runs were also divulged. Levy turned out to
have selected the wrong box all seven times.

Levy's zero-for-seven performance was the second-most-likely outcome in the absence of "psychic"
power. Given seven trials to succeed at a 1:10 task, the most likely chance result would be
one
correct guess (0.7 to be mathematically precise). Next most likely would be
zero
correct (the whole number next closest to 0.7). Progressively unlikely would be two, three, four,
and so on.

After she was found to have been wrong in the first two runs, Levy predicted -- correctly -- that she
would be found to have gotten all the rest wrong as well. As tempted as we were to award her the
prize for that "hit," we opted to adhere to the protocol and render the check "void."

Levy had initially contacted me after seeing a July 31 story about TBS on Orlando's Ch. 6 News.
Following several telephone conversations and e-mails, we reached agreement on the protocol for the
"$1,000 Challenge." In an e-mail dated 9/3, Levy told me, "God will provide for this whole venture.
I also finally saw the outcome of it today. I won't tell you what it is so I don't jinx it (Who
knows? I could be wrong - it has happened before). . . . Am looking forward to this challenge . . . "
It sure sounded like she expected to succeed. Yet, she was to claim after the event that she had
known for many days that she would fail.

Although she would have preferred to do what are known as "cold" readings, during the course of our
negotiations I had explained that, unlike her claimed "psychometry" ability, the "success" of such
readings are subject to interpretation and are simply not acceptable to TBS as the focus of a
scientific test.

Nevertheless, following her unsuccessful performance, at Levy's request we let the videotape continue to run
as she performed a reading in an effort to locate 7-year-old Amanda Brown, missing for about a week from her
Tampa home. Working with a Tampa roadmap (from my car) and a newspaper photograph of the girl, Levy made
the following predictions:

Still alive (as of 4:00 p.m. Sept. 19) but not a pretty sight

Will be found at night within 72 hours by a male policeman with dark hair; if no longer alive, she will be found dismembered; not in the water but on top of the water

In an area located around a harbor named after a sandpiper, or "speckled harbor" -- a harbor and a bird; "Harbor" is in the name of the place

On roadmap, pointed to general area north of Rocky Point and south of Memorial Highway

In a dark building made of old, brown, splintered wood, stained rather than painted; shaped like a trailer (long) but on the water (Amanda hears the waves slapping)

In a very small, dark room littered with beer cans, bottles and garbage; smells like pickles, fish and beer

Rope burn marks on her wrists, right arm and stomach in a lot of pain, very hungry (given only some cheese), sexual abuse

"Almost 100%" sure that the suspect (Willie Crain) is not involved in any way; perpetrator's nickname is "Mac" or name is "Mc something"; first name may be "Bob"; works alone; clean-cut and never caught before

"I feel like she was picked up in a car in a public parking lot" near a grocery store or small strip mall

"I believe that this reading is pretty accurate"

As for Levy's reading, Amanda had actually been noted missing early one morning from the bed in which
she, her mother and Crain had fallen asleep the night before. Crain, who had previously served time
for child molestation, was subsequently charged with child sexual abuse related to additional alleged
prior crimes -- during the media publicity surrounding the Brown case, his face was recognized by two
other alleged victims. (Also see "Update" below.)

In a 9/20/98 e-mail to friends/supporters (with copy to me), Levy had this to say about her
performance at the TBS "$1,000 Challenge" (although she didn't say it at the event one day
earlier):

No, I didn't win. I didn't want to. You guys were right. I thought I had to try
anyways. Despite the odds.

Looks like the stress of the past three months, along with major oral surgery and
medication four days before the challenge (along with five days of non-intentional
fasting) proved to be more than I was capable of. Gee, I'm not Superwoman after all.

No excuses, just observations. Just the facts.

Well, there goes my membership with the "Men in Black"!

· · · · ·

Sept. 1999 Amanda Brown Update: On Oct. 1, 1998, Crain was
arrested and charged with Amanda's murder. Although her body remains missing, blood matching hers
was found on his underwear and in his bathroom, which he had cleaned (but not
sufficiently) with bleach. The location of his mobile home (not "brown wood") is in Seffner, approx.
15 miles east of the area pinpointed by Levy, and nowhere near the water/waves. In September 1999,
Crain was convicted of Amanda's murder and sentenced to death.

Sept. 2008 Virginia Levy Update: In the 8/8/08 St. Petersburg Timesarticle about TBS, Levy maliciously
claims that our above-discussed "$1,000 Challenge" was a "scam" and that she was treated in a patronizing manner
in a room filled with negative energy and people mocking her. Our behavior was allegedly so appalling that she
professes to believe that we were "working on behalf of the dark side." This tortured recollection
is at 100% variance with the truth, as our videotape documents. And she hardly stormed out
in a huff after the "Challenge," as she also claims in the article -- the final results were determined at
1 hour/15 minutes into the video (at which time she received a warm round of applause for her efforts, though
unsuccessful), and she lingered until her final thank-you to us at 1 hour/52 minutes. We have converted the video to DVD
(available on request) and have also uploaded the entire video in twelve annotated parts
to YouTube. Our corrective
"Letter to the Editor" can be found here.

· · · · ·

For the record, here are the official results
of the TBS "$1,000 Challenge" with Levy: